


Drinking with Rose

by seraphic_gate



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Friendship, M/M, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-20
Updated: 2015-12-10
Packaged: 2018-05-02 12:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5248961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seraphic_gate/pseuds/seraphic_gate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's time for squire-shepherd bonding over ale and relationship problems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

There wasn't much cause for celebration in Ladylake with war tensions on the rise. Off-duty soldiers on their way west huddled into the bar, drinking what might be their last drinks. Tired workers and weary travelers drank on their own side, staying clear of the armored soldiers. Rose didn't like the atmosphere at all.

It was uncomfortable enough without having to keep anyone from bumping into an invisible seraph. Mikleo in particular risked being trampled as he followed behind Sorey. 

“I'm going to our room,” he huffed. Rose knew that the door opening and closing on its own in this crowded place would be an even bigger problem, but didn't feel like arguing about it. 

“Okay,” Sorey said. “I'll stay down here a bit and see if there's anything new.”

Mikleo said nothing. The twin tails of his jacket ruffled as he disappeared up the stairs. 

Rose looked to Sorey to see if he'd make any attempt to address Mikleo's attitude, but he was already buzzing around the inn's bar with a sparkle in his eyes like he could find treasures any place. “There's so many people here. I wonder if anyone has books to trade. I've read all the ones I have on me.”

“Does this look like the kind of place you're going to run into a fellow bookworm?” Rose shrugged her shoulders and scanned the room for a seat. When none were available, she ordered from the bar and elected to enjoy her brew while standing. She ordered one for Zavied as well. 

“What a darling.”

“Whatever, just drink it inconspicuously as you can, please.”

For Lailah, she ordered a vanilla cream cake. For Edna, a meaty stew. By that time, Sorey was admiring a random decorative textile hanging on the wall. The Sepherd motif was gaining popularity. Rose wondered if Sorey realized the woven illustration was supposed to be him. 

“Hey, Sorey. You look bored down here by yourself. Why don't you go hang out with Mikleo?”

“He likes to rest. I mean, seraphim don't really need to sleep I guess, but Mikleo got just so used to it, he gets annoyed when I keep him awake. Sometimes I get too energetic to sleep right away, so I just let him fall asleep first. I'll join him when I start feeling tired.”

“Huh.” 

Sorey was keenly examining the textile. “How old is this? It looks recent, but shepherd depictions haven't been common for years.” 

Rose covered her mouth to hide her smirk. “What exactly is the deal with you and Mikleo, anyway?”

He turned and looked directly at her. “What deal?”

“That's what I'm asking you, doof.” She sighed. “Come on, I'm your squire. I'm here so you have somebody to lay this kind of stuff on.”

“What stuff?” 

Rose leaned in close. “What's your thing with Mikleo?”

“I don't...”

As Sorey struggled to express how confused he was, Rose felt a jab in her lower back. She turned to find Edna poking her with the end of her umbrella. “Stop,” Edna said. 

“What?”

Edna scowled. “You know Sorey doesn't know what you're talking about. You have to ask him more directly than that.” She unfolded her umbrella and twirled it on her shoulder, displaying how graceful she could be when pressed, by not hitting anyone in the crowd. “But I don't think you should. Sorey and Meebo's 'deal' is none of your business.” 

Sorey scratched his ear. “I still don't know what you're--”

“Screw that, I'm buying us drinks!” Rose returned from the bar a second time with a pitcher of ale and two glasses. “Come on, Shepherd! Let's go outside and have a nice--” she shot a glance at Edna, “private,” and then continued, “squire-to-shepherd talk!”

\- - -

The night in Ladylake was still. After pulling Sorey through the door, Rose took a deep breath. It smelled of the river flowing under the bridge down the road to meet the lake, and the trees in bloom for spring.

Sorey was snifing his drink and making strange faces at the smell. “Oh for--” Rose began to swear. “Just drink it, it won't kill you! This is essential to our bonding process!”

Sorey sipped his glass and his face scrunched up in distaste, but he nodded and attempted a second go at it. 

“Sorey, you know part of why I'm around is to make sure you can keep going down your path without any regrets.” 

“I know. Thanks, Rose.”

“So, that means you need to open up to me a little, you know?” 

He looked up from his cup and to the sky. “Sure, I just don't understand what it is you're trying to ask me.”

“Fine.” She took a deep breath, grounded her feet, and prepared to come on out with it. “Are you and Mikleo lovers, or what?”

There was a small gurgling noise as Sorey choked on his beer. His face went pale. 

“Or do you even know what that means?”

“I know. I know what it means.”

Rose figured it would take a while to get an answer, so she leaned up against the side of the building and began sucking down her beer at a rate that was just short of chugging. Sorey, meanwhile, rubbed the back of his head, fiddling with his feather earrings. 

“Have you ever been in love?”

Rose wasn't too shocked by question, but she found herself needing to think about it. “Sort of. It's not like in your books, though. It's messy, and it comes and goes. It changes all the time. Especially in my line of work, relationships outside of the family don't last too long. So I guess I'd say I've fallen in love before, but, I've never pursued it.” She sighed, and kicked a rock away from her foot. “It's not that important to me, you know? I couldn't care less about that.”

“Hm.” He set the mostly full glass on the ground next to the pitcher. Then he folded his arms over his chest and looked down the way he often did when the subject turned heavy. “But what if it is important?”

“Then, you should probably start asking yourself how important it is.”

Sorey kept his pose and stared intently at the gravel sidewalk his feet stood on. “It's true that I love him.”

“Whoa.” Rose pushed herself off the wall, suddenly a little more sober. “You really can't lie, huh?”

His intent stare turned up at the sky above. “But, the nature of this love is what I just can't...”

“What kind of love is it,you mean?” She put her hands on her hips and sighed. It seemed obvious to her, but then, Sorey was a different kind of person. “You grew up with Seraphim, so it's not like you have a lot of good examples.”

“I know. Even the word itself I only learned from storybooks. At the end, lovers would be reunited and live happily ever after. I got the impression that it was like some kind of magic that made everything okay."

"It can feel like that, I guess." Rose scratched her head. "But I've never felt like that."

"Since going on this journey with all of you, I've seen a lot more. Brothers slain, mothers bereft. So much pain left behind. Even Seraphim have become hellions over their sense of love. It's a dangerous thing, and it's confusing, too. I kind of hoped..."

“Yeah, what?”

Sorey looked up, hand behind his head again. He had a sheepish grin on his face and color had returned to his cheeks in force. “I was kind of hoping Mikleo would figure it out first.”

Rose slapped her forehead. “Oh my god what?”

“Well, he always knows about things like this before I do.”

Rose got on her feet and circled around, putting her arms on Sorey's. “He can't know something that you don't tell him.” Then she smacked his head. “You dummy!”

Sorey took the beating with dignity. The corners of his moth twinged like he was trying to smile, but couldn't force it. “I know.”

“Uhg!” She started to shake him by the arms. “You are so frustrating!”

“But I don't want to make things more painful than they already are.”

Rose let go and dropped her hands to her side. “Mikleo acted strangely when you guys recruited me, you know?”

“How do you mean?”

“He said something like, as much as you guys both want seraphim and humans to live peacefully, that you still flinch sometimes when you see him. He sounded so sad. And then he told me that I should be your friend, because I'm a human. Like he wants me to take care of you in his place or something.”

“Why would he say something like that?” He took on his thinking pose again. “Now that you mention it, he acted strange with Alisha as well. Saying he's glad she is here, and things like that. I didn't make anything out of it. I was kinda glad he was getting along with other humans, to be honest. But to think that's what he was getting at...”

“Yeah, you see? You've got some baggage there you need to take care of right away, my friend.” She knelt and picked up Sorey's glass. “Here, just chug the rest of this. It's not that strong, but it'll take the edge off your nerves.”

“Okay.” He took the glass.

Rose stopped him as he was about to raise it to his mouth. “Wait, we gotta do this together.” She poured the remains of the pitcher into her empty cup. “On three, okay? One, two--”

They both began chugging. Rose finished first and then began to chant “go, go, go!” and pat Sorey on the back. He got through it and wiped the dripping booze from his mouth. “Yeah, that's it! You're the friggin shepherd!”

“And you're the squire!” Sorey tried to match her enthusiasm, but it was dampened as he staggered a bit. “Ah, I think I see the appeal now.”

“You're not a lightweight are you? Admissions made while drunk don't count.”

“No, I'm thinking clearly still,” he said. “Everything just feels a little... bright?”

“Okay, a good buzz then. Perfect. Now, I'll run seraphic interference and make sure none of our nosey friends try to listen in.”

“Thanks, Rose.” Sorey turned to her, and took her hand. “I really mean it.”

“Hey, come on. Time's a wasting.”

\- - -

“You smell like beer.”

Sorey stood in front of an agitated water Seraph in the inn's upstairs room. This made things a little more difficult than anticipated. It was always harder trying to bring up delicate subjects with Mikleo glaring purple daggers at him from beneath the crest of his bangs. 

“It was just a glass, nothing crazy.” He caught himself playing with his earrings again and forced his hands back down to his sides. He cleared his throat. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

Mikleo turned away. He looked out the open window that let the fresh night air into the room. The river flowed from the city and into the lake below. He spoke with his back facing Sorey, arms crossed. “I feel the same.”

“Huh?”

“I don't know what it is, but I know that it's something. And we should probably figure out what it is. That's what you wanted to say, right?”

“H-how did...?”

“You idiot. The two of you were so loud, I could hear the entire conversation from up here.”


	2. Drinking with Mikleo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After her chat with Sorry in Ladylake, Rose hits the bar with Mikleo in Lastonbell.

By the time they reached Lastonbell, it was raining. Their last trek through the meadows past the city in a rainstorm ended with Rose nearly catching pneumonia while the seraphim gloated about their cozy warm seats inside Sorey’s noggin, and she was not about to deal with that again.

“Sounds like a plan,” Mikleo answered, before even Sorey got to chime in. Mikleo had been in good spirits since Ladylake. When they'd briefly armatized, Rose could feel the exuberant joy bubbling up in him and overflowing. When he smiled, he looked much lovelier than Rose had considered before, and she was beginning to understand why Sorey was so enamored. “We're just in time for dinner, too,” he said.

They reached the inn. Rose booked the room while Sorey ordered dinner. At the desk, Mikleo was still standing near Rose. She turned to him. “Do you two want your own room?” 

Mikleo looked at her with his head tilted. “Why would I need an extra room with Sorey?” He asked. “We’ll just sleep in Sorey like normal, and you'll have a separate bed, right? I mean if you girls want your own room that would be fine, but we should at least take Zavied off your hands.”

Rose hadn't considered that such an arrangement would leave them with Zavied. “I can take care of him,” she said. “It's a small price to pay for a happy shepherd and sub lord.”

“I guess.”

Mikleo walked away to join Sorey at a table. Rose noticed how Sorey touched him on the shoulder when he approached, naturally, without either appearing to think about it very much. It wasn't any different than before, except maybe it was less teasing, now. At least the pretense had dropped, and they were done making up excuses to touch each other. That was enough for now, even if they still didn't understand why they might enjoy the privacy of their own room. 

Of course, as soon as she thought that, she looked again and they were kicking each other under the table. Lailah had to intervene with, “Boys, boys!” before they toppled a chair.

Rose shook her head and sighed. Maybe if she went ahead and ordered the extra room, with a single bed, they might figure it out by accident. 

\- - - 

After dinner, the seraphim were bored of being quiet while their human companions slept, and decided to hang out downstairs where nobody else could hear them anyway. Rose returned downstairs from the bathroom and heard Edna teasing Mikleo about something she hadn't caught, and probably didn't matter anyway. The butt of the joke was Mikleo being called kikleo, not inventive.

Sorry wasn't downstairs. “Where's our shepherd?” she asked the group.

Mikleo idly untwisted a cheese twist. “He was exhausted, barely made it through dinner before he passed out.” 

Rose made a tsk. “Aw, and after I went through all that trouble.”

“Oh about the second room? No big deal, you can have the second one if you want.”

Lailah’s coy smile and the knowing smirks of Edna and Zavied went completely unnoticed by Mikleo as he continued popping untwisted cheese twists into his mouth.

Rose walked around to his side of the table and clapped a hand into his shoulder. Mikleo looked up, annoyed. “What?”

“Okay buddy,” she said with a sigh. “You and me better have a talk over here.”

“There's no reason for--” he started to say, then wailed as Rose drug him out of his chair by the arm.

She pulled him over to the bar and pushed him onto a stool. “Stay here unless you want the Mikleo Torture Brigade to tease you relentlessly all night.”

Mikleo groaned and looked back at the table where three seraphim were grinning at them. “Okay, what's going on?”

“How'd it go in Ladylake?”

Mikleo’s eyes widened and his arms tensed up a little, although he was trying not to show it. “You mean after you got Sorey drunk and put a bunch of ideas in his head.”

“He wasn't drunk, he wasn't even buzzed,” she laughed. “He could barely even finish a brew. Speaking of, what do you want?”

Mikleo crossed his arms and huffed indignantly. “I don't drink alcohol.”

“Come on, we can't talk buddy-to-buddy without a little booze.” She nudged him with her elbow. “What, can't hold your liquor?”

“Please. As a seraph of water, alcohol would have no effect on me.”

“That sounds like a challenge.”

“Fine, order something! I'll show you.”

Rose chuckled. “Let's see, what's a good first drink for Mikleo the sweet tooth?” Mikleo made a sour face at that. “How about a nice lemon drop with a cherry on top?”

“The bar tender nodded and prepared the drink. For herself, Rose ordered more ale. He returned and set both in front of her. She waited until he left to tend to other guests and pushed the dainty glass with its fine lemon twist garnish and cherry over to Mikleo.

He lifted it up and sniffed. “This looks like a desert.” Rose gestured with her hands to drink up, and Mikleo downed the glass. “I didn't think it would be that good,” he said.

“Want more? We can try some cherry brandy next and then oh, you should try some rum with--”

“I'll just take another of these,” he said. 

Rose ordered and then turned. “So, Ladylake? You’ve seemed really happy since then, so I figured you guys must have come to some sort of conclusion.”

“I didn't need your help,” he said, sipping the second drink more slowly. “What's between Sorey and I didn't need to be acknowledged.”

Rose shrugged. “Sorry for butting in, then. It's not you I'm worried about, it's Sorey. You're pretty aware of yourself I think, but Sorey is…” She looked up, thinking. “He is simple, you know?”

Mikleo finished the glass. “I didn't need to hear it,” he said again. “But I guess it was nice to.”

“Aw, that makes me so happy.”

“Keep it to yourself!” He barked. He was starting to turn pink. “Actually, I think I will try those others you mentioned.”

“All right, now it's a party!”

Rose ordered more cocktails and took turns tasting them with Mikleo until, despite his claims otherwise, he had become a bit tipsy. He started to grab her glass and drink after her without pouring it into his own first, and the only time she'd ever heard his voice as loud was when he was geeking out about ruins with Sorey. 

“So, the reason I got you guys the second room,” she said, now that Mikleo was well enough lubricated, “is because I thought after our little conversation in Ladylake that you might appreciate some private time.”

“Why?” Mikleo was sucking all the flavor out of an ice cube. 

“You know, to do things? Physical things? Things you may not want to do in front of the rest of us?”

Mikleo scratched his head.

“Do you really not know what I'm talking about, or are you just super drunk?”

“I told you water seraphim don't get inhebriated.” He said it, but he slur on the last word wasn't convincing.

“I know you guys are innocent and all, but you can't not know _anything_ about sex.”

“Oh, you mean human reproduction?” He made a disgusted face. “That sounds like it would be unpleasant.”

Rose laughed. “It's pretty pleasant, actually.”

“Why would I need to know about that? I mean Sorey could have kids with a woman, but it's not like he wants to.”

Rose covered her mouth and tried to stop herself from laughing louder. “That's not the only reason people do it, and couples of the same gender have their own ways of doing it just for fun.”

“Oh.” Mikleo looked deeply into his empty glass.

“Maybe seraphim don't strictly need it, but if Zavied is any example, it's gotta be enjoyable for you, too.”

“If Zavied is any example, it's gross. I don't have such lustful inclinations.”

“Uh huh. Right. And you don't get drunk either.”

Mikleo scoffed.

“You know, when it's two guys, who makes the first move? Normally I'd imagine Sorey, but what if he's waiting for you to do it? You're older, right?”

"Barely."

"Still."

“What would I even do?” 

“Well, I can't spell it out for you, but really, it should explain itself. Just do whatever feels right. Don't be afraid to do something, or ask what they want to do. Other than that, just have fun! Don't worry about mistakes.”

"My only mistake was indulging you in this conversation in the first place." She was sure Mikleo was drunk when he stood and swayed a bit, holding onto the stool.

“Careful,” she said, and stood up to right him. “Ha ha, at least now we know your limit.”

She helped him up the stairs with her arm gently placed against his back, and made sure he got into his room where Sorey was asleep without stumbling. She entered the room with him, and gently rubbed Sorey’s shoulder to wake him up. He rolled over with a yawn. 

“Your boyfriend had too much to drink,” she whispered, and helped Mikleo into the bed.

“I'm fine." Rose helped him take his shoes off anyway.

He rolled into the bed with Sorey and curled up next to him.

“Thanks,” Sorey said, and put his arm around Mikleo. 

“I had a cherry brandy,” he said, and yawned boozy breath into Sorey’s face. “It was aged from the Langston dynasty.”

“I don't think that’s right,” Sorey laughed, “but okay? Just go to sleep.”

Rose smiled as she closed the door.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone in the Soymilk chat for indulging my random ideas.


End file.
